Conference trip with Active Solution to Monte Isola in Italy.

tretton37 used to have annual conferences for the whole company, until everything went downhill. Active Solution isn’t going downhill so I got to go on a three-day conference trip.

Monte Isola is a pretty little island in Lake Iseo in northern Italy, an hour east of Milano. We flew to Milano, were transported by bus to Iseo on the coast of the lake, and then by boat to the island.

The island is basically a hilltop sticking out of the lake. There’s a ring of villages along the lake shore, connected by a road, and as soon as you leave the road, it’s all uphill.

We’re staying in Castello Oldofredi, an actual castle, parts of which date back to the late-medieval era.

Here’s us, listening to a talk about new features in the latest versions of .NET, in a vaulted renaissance hall.

After the talk, we had collaborative coding sessions. Most teams opted to sit out on the terrace. Quite a difference to the +3°C and light snow we left behind us in Stockholm.

Afterwards there was more enjoying of the spring sun.

For me, being so new to the company, the biggest benefit of the trip was to get to know the people. I make a point to go to the office once a week, but it tends to be the same faces there every week. Now I could put faces to the names I’ve seen, talk to the people I’ve seen only at a distance, and meet people from the other offices as well.